Here are some of the first pictures of AMD's new socket FM1. FM1 will be the platform for AMD's upcoming "Llano" A-Series accelerated processing units (APUs), in the desktop and notebook platforms. With it, AMD will compete with Intel's LGA1155/LGA1156 processors in consumer and business desktop markets that simply rely on the processor's embedded graphics. The Llano APU integrates a quad-core x86-64 processor with a DirectX 11 compliant AMD Radeon HD 6000 series graphics core (with 400+ stream processors, last we heard); a dual-channel DDR3 memory controller, and a PCI-Express 2.0 hub. FM1 is a pin-grid array, but its exact pin count isn't known. Purely by the looks of it, FM1 package looks smaller than AM3+. Clearly the version of CPU-Z used in the screenshot doesn't fully support the APU, but it does reveal some information. It's reading the quad-core chip as four single core processors with 1 MB L2 cache each. The processor is clocked at 2.4 GHz. Llano APUs are expected to make landfall in May/June.

So does this mean that AMD is going back to the 2 socket desktop split? Like the 754/939 days?

Click to expand...

ehm, there was no split back then.
amd have never had a split before.
754 got Replaced with 939.

But yesh! there will be a split for atleast a year. am3+ will atleast live until end of 2012 when it might will be replaced by FM1 for krishna(bulldozer APU) this is unknown for everyone, and just speculation on my side, but everyone seems to think the same about this.

ehm, there was no split back then.
amd have never had a split before.
754 got Replaced with 939.

But yesh! there will be a split for atleast a year. am3+ will atleast live until end of 2012 when it might will be replaced by FM1 for krishna(bulldozer APU) this is unknown for everyone, and just speculation on my side, but everyone seems to think the same about this.

Click to expand...

A split did exist for a while, when s939 was exclusive to the FX series processors.

A split did exist for a while, when s939 was exclusive to the FX series processors.

Click to expand...

A split was also around when amd moved from socket a to s754.
there havent been a really big split when they launch products for two sockets side by side for a longer period of time that will happen now.

A split was also around when amd moved from socket a to s754.
there havent been a really big split when they launch products for two sockets side by side for a longer period of time that will happen now.

Click to expand...

The split between s754 and s939 was more than just a transitional split and lasted longer than one. AMD launched both s754 and s939 at the same exact time, with s939 exclusive to Athlon64 FX. It was only later (after Athlon64 3700+ s754) that AMD released s939-based Athlon64 (non-FX) and Sempr0n.

Well they need to feed both the GPU and the CPU through the same bus. It looks like it's in the 1100+ pin range? I hope it has a quad memory channel to be able 2x64bit for the cpu and 2x64bit for the GPU, otherwise things are gonna get tight fast

Well they need to feed both the GPU and the CPU through the same bus. It looks like it's in the 1100+ pin range? I hope it has a quad memory channel to be able 2x64bit for the cpu and 2x64bit for the GPU, otherwise things are gonna get tight fast

Click to expand...

The PCI-E hub is on-die. I don't imagine there even being an external HyperTransport link in the first place. They've completely moved the northbridge to the APU die. So those pins should include display output pins, pins for a PCI-E x16 link, a PCI-E x4 (A-Link) to the remaining chipset (southbridge), two DDR3 channels, power, and miscellaneous IO.

If there are going to be two sockets at the same time, we will not have to worry about them. They made it very clear these Llano are suppose to be the standard chips for mainstream laptops and desktops. This will basically be what Dell, HP, Acer, etc. get to put in their mid-ranged laptops and low-end to mid-range desktops.

Stuff for us to buy and build ourselves will mostly be AM3+, though I am sure several mobo makers will make a few F1 micro-ATX boards if these are ever actually available for purchase as the chip only.

The split between s754 and s939 was more than just a transitional split and lasted longer than one. AMD launched both s754 and s939 at the same exact time, with s939 exclusive to Athlon64 FX. It was only later (after Athlon64 3700+ s754) that AMD released s939-based Athlon64 (non-FX) and Sempr0n.

Click to expand...

A split did indeed exist at the beginnig of the A64 days. But it was between sk754 (A64) and sk940 (A64 FX). They later introduced sk939 to replace them both.